Let's Play Pretend
by threatmantic
Summary: When a childhood friendship that revolved around playing pretend evolves into a relationship as fake as their childish games, you know someone is bound to get hurt, even if real feelings do start to develop. AkuRoku, SoRiku Two-shot


Hey everyone. This originally was going to be a oneshot, but with no motivation, I never really finished it. I decided to put it up, see if people liked it, and if they did, continue it.

**Disclaimer: **Do you think I own Kingdom Hearts? If you do, continue on with your little fantasty. :D

"Thanks for pretending."

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Axel! Let's play pretend!" the blonde beamed at his newfound friend.<em>

_Axel gave him a smile, "Sure, Roxas! I'll always play pretend with you."_

* * *

><p>"Axel? That's you, right?" Axel turned at the mention of his name to face a not so familiar face.<p>

"Yeah, who are you?" He gave the man in front of him a strange look.

He smiled, "I'm Sora, but introductions aside, I need a favor of you," Axel nodded for him to continue, "My older brother, Roxas… Well, I'll play you to be his boyfriend. Five bucks a day."

Axel seemed to ponder the thought of five bucks a day and nodded. Besides Sora never said how long he had to date his brother, "Tell me more."

* * *

><p>"Rox," he bit his lip, "Are you sure you are going to be okay going to school today? You just got home."<p>

Roxas gave the brunette a nod. He was fine. His brother worried too much about him to a point where sometimes it was suffocating, even if his brother really did mean well.

"Sor, I'll be fine. Leon and Cloud even gave me the okay to go. You don't need to worry so much. One day your future spouse is going to teach you that."

Sora frowned, "Why can't you?"

He stared into his brother's eyes, refusing to admit the answer that they both already knew. He faked a smile, "Because you never listen to me."

* * *

><p>"So, all I have to do is date your brother until the end of this school year, and you will pay me?" Axel grinned. Easy money. It's practically baby-sitting anyway.<p>

"Yeah. That's all you have to do," he paused, "but you can't let him know I'm paying you for this. He would," Sora gulped, hesitant to continue, "kill me."

Axel laughed at the brunette in front of him, "Don't worry I won't tell, as long as I get the money."

The brunette smiled at him, handing the first five dollar bill out of the numerous ones that were going to come, "Thanks for doing this Axel. It means a lot to me." Sora waved goodbye and Axel began to go to his first class of the day, Calculus. When he arrived at his first class of first semester, he was slightly shocked to see a blonde, that bared a resemblance to Sora, sitting in the sit next to his.

"Hey, I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" the blonde nodded, "You're Roxas, right?"

Roxas seemed stunned that Axel actually knew his name, but mumbled a barely audible, "Yes," anyway.

Axel continued talking to lighten the mood between him and his soon-to-be boyfriend, "Is this your first class with Mansex teaching?" Roxas didn't respond, looking slightly confused, "Mansex is an anagram I came up with for Xemnas, just to piss him off."

Roxas laughed, and Axel noted that it sounded familiar, "Yeah, it's my first class with him teaching, but he's my brother's best friend's dad, so he's practically family." Xemnas looked towards Roxas, shooting him what seemed to be a small smile, asking if Roxas was okay. Roxas gave him a nod and smiled back.

"You two seem pretty close," Axel commented.

Roxas bit his lip, "Yeah that's what happens when you have a family like mine. We practically live with each other's friends."

Axel chuckled, "It must be pretty cool to have a family that close."

"Not if it's for the reason we are." Sensing Roxas' change in tone, Axel decided to drop the subject and started focussing on Xemnas' lecture about derivatives.

* * *

><p>Sora ran up to his brother after classes got out, "How was school, Rox? Did you meet any new friends, or boyfriends?" He did a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.<p>

"Sora, I'm not a school to make friends. You know that."

Sora pouted, "That still doesn't answer the boyfriend question!"

"I can't have a boyfriend if I don't have any friends, Sor. Stop asking stupid questions."

"Rox, I'm just worried about you. Just because you-"

Roxas cut in, "Drop it, Sora. I don't want to hear it." He already knew what Sora was going to say. He always knew. It was all Sora talked about. Roxas didn't want it that way. He missed before, when Sora used to joke and play around with him. Now, Sora was just a constant reminder, and all he brought was a depressing mood, something Roxas was eerily growing tired of. That's why he didn't want friends. If he had them, they might just act as Sora was now. And one depressed Sora was enough.

The two brothers remained quiet the rest of the walk home.

* * *

><p>Axel cursed. He hadn't asked Roxas out, and if he wanted more money, he needed to do so soon. And perhaps, dating Roxas wouldn't be that bad, Roxas was good-looking, and his personality seemed fine. He knew the relationship that he was going to get himself into wasn't going to be long-term, but he may as well think of reasons to enjoy it. Besides, his life was so boring at this point. It was just school, home, and sometimes hanging with Demyx, if he wasn't too busy with Zexion.<p>

As he exited the school grounds, he decided he wouldn't go home, but instead get some ice cream instead. It beat doing his homework. Well, anything beat that, but still ice cream was damn good, and nothing was going to stop him from getting it by this point. The line for ice cream wasn't long, and Axel was soon sitting on a bench by the park, licking his sea-salt ice cream.

"Roxas? Blondie? That you?" Axel said to the man sitting on the bench across from him.

Roxas looked up, ignoring the nickname, "Oh, hey, Axel."

"Oh, so that is you, Blondie." Axel got off the bench he was on and plopped himself on Roxas' bench, "What are you doing out here? I pegged you as the type of guy to try and get all his assignments done right away."

"Hey! I'm not that worried about my grade!" Roxas smiled, "I just needed to get away from Sora, for a little."

The redhead laughed, "He seems like a handful."

"Don't even get me started," Roxas paused and his eyes seemed to float to Axel's ice cream, "Is that sea-salt? I used to love that stuff."

Axel titled the ice cream towards Roxas, "Want some?"

Roxas turned away and shook his head, "No thank you."

"Afraid of sharing an indirect kiss?" Axel asked, only to receive a shake of the head, "Then what are you afraid of, Roxy?"

"D…." he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Don't call me Roxy," he sighed, "I'm just not meant to eat ice cream anymore, okay? It isn't allowed."

"Is little ole' Roxy scared of breaking rules?" Axel grinned, "It's not that hard to break them."

"Axel, I can break rules. There are just some I shouldn't." Roxas simply stated, "And I never intend to break those ones."

"But Roxy, how can you live without sea-salt ice cream? Surely a silly rule isn't worth missing out on this." Axel began licking the ice cream, in a somewhat seductive manner.

Roxas tinted red, "Oh, shut up."

"You need to lighten up a little, Roxy," Axel chuckled. Roxas remained quiet, looking away from Axel, as Axel continued to lick his ice cream.

After a couple minutes of silence, Roxas faced Axel and spoke, "Axel, are we friends?"

Axel smiled at him, "I'd like to think so, Roxy." Roxas turned away again, "Don't you think so?"

Roxas refused to face him, "I…. guess."

Axel smirked, "I get it. You want to be something more, don't you? I knew you would be hopelessly in love with me sooner or later!" Axel forced Roxas to fall onto his lap, "You don't need to be embarrassed, Roxy! Everyone falls in love."

"I'm in love with you, as i-" Roxas was cut off, and not by someone, but by something. Something being a salty, yet sweet treat that Roxas was so set against having, "What the fuck, Axel? I told you I couldn't have that."

"And I told you, you needed to lighten up! And excellent love confession by the way," Axel smirked again as Roxas flushed, "No need to blush, Roxy. It's good you came to terms with your feelings. But, how about you act on them? Let's go out tomorrow on a date." Axel laughed when Roxas reluctantly nodded yes while stammering, "T-that doesn't mean I like you, though."

* * *

><p>Roxas did not know if he should be happy, sad or angry that Axel had asked him out. Part of him hated himself for saying yes, but part of him was overjoyed that Axel was finally talking to him. Roxas had liked Axel for the longest time, ever since he was about six years old and had played with Axel for the first and only time. Axel, being as he was ten years ago, gave Roxas hope that things didn't have to change. Things could always be like they were before.<p>

But the way his family and family friends acted around him diminished that hope as quickly as started. Still as many times as that hope would fade into nothing, one thought about Axel would bring it back.

"Hey Rox," Sora greeted him as Roxas returned home, "Where did you go?"

"Just by the park. I needed some time to think."

"Oh," Sora smiled a small one, "You didn't do anything you weren't meant to, right?"

"No," he sighed, remembering how he technically had a little ice cream when Axel shoved it down his mouth, "I followed every rule I was supposed to." Even if he wished he didn't have to.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Roxy. Ready for Mansex's class," Axel said with a grin as he saw the blonde enter the classroom and took his place next to Axel, "And then after school, our date?" He winked<p>

Roxas refused to acknowledge him and just gave Xemnas a nod. Xemnas nodded back, "Axel, if you call me that name one more time, I will purposely fail you. And Roxas, you don't have a prior commitment today?"

Roxas shook his head, "No, Xemnas, that's tomorrow. You know I wouldn't want to miss those."

"Roxas," Xemnas frowned, "You can't joke around about this. This whole things is serious and shouldn't' be taken lightly."

Roxas closed his eyes and sighed, "I know. I'm just sick of being treated like I'm some fucking alien, because of this. I fucking sick of it, Xemnas, and not joking about it, isn't going to do anything to stop it. Joking about it makes it seem less real, and that's all I want right know."

The bell rang, signaling first period had officially started.

**Roxy, what was that about? **Axel passed him the note.

**Nothing. It's none of your business. **Axel frowned. **But we're friends, and therefore it is my business.**

**Axel, just drop it, or I'll cancel our fucking date.**

And that shut Axel up right away, and he was convinced that it was because he didn't want to lose the money Sora was offering.

* * *

><p>"Roxas," Sora smiled, "My schedule got changed, and now we have Art together!"<p>

"Oh joy," Roxas muttered sarcastically.

Sora looked at his brother, "Rox, I expected you to be a little happier."

"I'm not just happy, Sora, I'm thrilled," His voice dripped of sarcasm, once again.

"Rox," Sora frowned, "I miss us being friends. What happened to that?"

He couldn't let Sora know. He didn't want to worry Sora anymore, "Nothing happened. We are still friends, Sora." He faked a smile.

"If you say so."

* * *

><p>The end of school bell rang, and students dashed out of the halls and classrooms and all proceeded to go home or hang out with friends. Axel stood outside the school building waiting for Roxas to come out of of his last period class.<p>

"Axel?" Axel turned around and saw Sora, "Who are you waiting for?"

Axel smirked, "Your brother."

"You got him to go out with you!" Sora practically tackled Axel with a hug, "I owe you so much! Thank you, Axel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!"

After shaking Sora off him, Axel extended his hand, "I believe you owe me five dollars."

Sora laughed, "Oh, sorry," He handed Axel the next five dollar bill, "There you go! And once again, thank you, Axel. Well, I best be off now! Tell Roxas, I'll see him at home." Sora parted with a wave, and skipped happily towards his house. But Axel was confused, 'Why would someone be so happy that their brother had a boyfriend? You'd think Sora would worry more about getting himself one.'

"Was that Sora?" A voice, sounding a tad melancholy, interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm. Oh yeah." Axel nodded and Roxas eyes made their way to the ground, before shaking his head and looking back up at Axel, "Well, should we go, Roxy?"

"Yeah. So where are we exactly going, Axel?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Laser tag," Roxas stated, "We are playing laser tag?"

"Hell yeah, Roxy," Axel grinned, "Laser tag's pretty fun."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "If you say so."

"Hey, two passes for laser tag," Axel said to the worker at _Laser Quest._

The worker stared at Axel for a while before nodding, "Okay, I need your guy's nicknames for the database."

"I got that covered. Blondie over hear will be, 'LittleMissRoxy,' and I'll be, "FlurryOfDancingFlames.'" Axel smirked at the pissed off Roxas behind him. The worker handed Axel the two little pegs they needed to get into the maze, "Thank you."

"What the hell, Axel? Little Miss Roxy? When did we ever agree on that?" Roxas glared.

"Never, but it just fitted you so well, Roxy-dear." Axel tried to deny that a pissed off Roxas was cute.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Roxy, I didn't know you were such a crappy laser tag player," Axel smirked down at the short blonde sitting next to him.

"Shut up, Axel. I've never played laser tag before. It's not my fault I didn't know what the hell was going on. All the sudden all these little kids where shooting lasers at me. They shouldn't be aloud to do that!"

Axel laughed, "Roxas, that's the point of the game. THe little kids were meant to be shooting you, but you weren't supposed to let them! And how could you never play laser tag, that's almost as bad as not having eaten sea-salt ice cream for a while, Roxy!"

"I'm not meant to use that much energy in one hour, that's why." He looked away, "It's one of those rules I can't break."

"Well, looks like you just broke one of those rules, Roxy. You're growing up! Daddy's proud!"

"Oh shut up, Axel. Sora would kill me if he found out I did this, but thanks…" Roxas paused looking up at Axel.

"For what?"

Roxas inhaled, "For treating me like I was human."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The walk back from _Laser Quest _to Roxas' house was eerily quiet.

Axel, sick of the uncomfortable silence, spoke up, "So, Roxy, are you up for going out again?"

Roxas flashed him a smile, "Yeah. Spending time with you has probably been the most fun I've had since I was," he trailed off.

"Since you were born?"

"Yeah," Roxas hesitantly nodded.

Axel chuckled, "I knew I could bring light to the gloom cloud called Roxas."

* * *

><p>"Rox, how was your date?" Sora asked in a sing-song voice as soon as Axel had dropped off Roxas at home.<p>

Roxas choose to ignore his brother and walked into the living room, as Sora followed. As much as he refused to admit, he was slightly happy at Sora's behavior. Sora was treating him like his existence wasn't at world's end.

"Roooooooooxas, don't ignore me! We're brothers! You can't do this!" He playfully wailed.

"I can do whatever I want Sora. You don't own me!" Roxas faked anger towards his brother.

Sora faked a hurt expression, "You wound me so, dear brother. After all I had given to you! You just ignore me and think you can get away with it." He tackled Roxas onto the couch in their living room, "Are you learning your lesson, Roxas?"

Roxas took control over Sora, so now he was the one on top of him, "I think you are the one who needs to learn to not tell me what to do!"

"No Roxas," He whined, "Don't hurt me!" At this, Roxas began to let go of his hold on Sora, but Sora saw this as a way to take back control on Roxas. He stuck his tongue out, "In your face, Roxas! You can't win against me." Sora began laughing manically.

"Sora, what are you doing to your brother?" Leon's voice caused them to instantly let go of each other.

"I'm sorry, dad. Roxas and I were just having fun. I-It was harmless," Sora felt bad, so bad that tears were beginning to form in his eyes.

Roxas sighed, "Dad, it wasn't Sora's fault. I provoked him."

Ignoring Roxas, Leon continued, "Sora, you know it wasn't harmless, not for Roxas. Go to your room. We will talk about punishments later, and Roxas, go get ready for your appointment tomorrow."

"Yes dad," They answered simultaneously. After all, there was no point arguing with their father.

* * *

><p>Axel entered his Calculus class set on annoying on Xemnas and Roxas, but when he showed up, only one of the two people where there, and it wasn't the person that Axel wanted more. Xemnas looked over the role and didn't even bother calling Roxas' name. Axel guessed Xemnas already knew why Roxas was gone. And he hated that Xemnas knew and he didn't.<p>

Axel went to find Sora, when lunch started, "Hey, Sora, where's your brother today?"

Sora refused to meet Axel's eyes, and didn't answer either. Instead his sliver-haired friend replied, "Roxas is going to be away for about twelve weeks."

"That's almost the whole semester. What's going on with him?"

"None of your business," Sora snapped, "Please, Axel, just go away. I'll still pay you for those twelve weeks, just, just leave."

Axel began walking away from Sora and his friend, still curious, and slightly worried about what was happening that was causing Roxas to miss twelve weeks of school, but shrugged it off, knowing it was none of his business.

"Sora, why are you paying him?" the sliver-haired friend of Sora's asked after he thought Axel had left.

Sora looked away, slightly ashamed, "I'm paying him to date Roxas, Riku."

His friend, Riku, raised his voice at Sora, "Sora, why would you do that? Roxas is going to be crushed when he finds out."

"I wanted him to be happy, Riku," Sora paused, "And I'm hoping that he never finds out."

Axel walked away, not wanting to hear anymore.

* * *

><p><em>8 weeks later<em>

"Hey, Rox, how was it today?" Sora asked.

Roxas gave a soft smile, "It's how it always is, Sora."

"I'm sorry, Rox. I wish you didn't have to go through this. But it will only be like this for four more weeks, and then your hair will grow back and you can come back to school?"

"I'll have to wear a wig, and draw in my eyebrows, but I'll be back at school in four weeks. Don't worry about it, Sora," He proceeded to give his brother what he considered false hope, "Going through this is going to help me survive, Sora. It's what's been keeping me alive up until now, and it won't stop just yet."

"You promise, Rox? You promise you'll be alive when I graduate high school in four years."

"Of course, I'll be in the front row, cheering you on as you give your valedictorian speech," Roxas faked a smile.

Sora laughed, "I'm not going to be valedictorian, you know that! I want to stay here in the hospital with you, Roxas, but Leon and Cloud wanted me home right after school. I love you, Roxas."

"I love you too, Sora, and nothing will ever change that." Sora smiled at Roxas and left the room, praying for his brother's safety.

Areith, Roxas' nurse, walked into the room after Sora left, "Roxas, may I ask why you said that to him?" Roxas didn't answer, "You're going to have to tell him soon, Roxas. He's your brother."

Roxas blinked the now forming tears away, "Yeah, and that's why he can't know that I'm going to die. He can't know that I stopped responding to the fucking treatment."

* * *

><p><em>4 weeks later<em>

It's been twelve weeks, twelve weeks since he last saw Roxas. But only one day since he last received a five dollar bill from Sora. And his conscience was making him feel like crap. He was taking money from Sora and he wasn't even talking to Roxas. (It wasn't like he didn't try to find out where Roxas was though. Nobody was telling him.)

He didn't expect to be this worried about a boy he had only spoken to about five times, nor did he expect Roxas to be in Calculus that day, staring at him and offering a small smile.

"Hey, Axel. Missed me?" Roxas cocked a faint smirk.

Axel sat down, "Where the hell were you, Roxas?" Something about Roxas seemed different. It wasn't just that his hair and eyebrows looked a bit fake, but he seemed to be a ghost of what he was three months ago, and deep inside of Axel, it scared him. A. Lot.

"Just some family business," Roxas replied all too quickly. Xemnas smiled at Roxas, when he reentered the classroom. The same smile he did each day before, the one asking Roxas if he was okay. But this time, Roxas' response was a frown and a shake of the head. And Axel knew that wasn't a good sign.

* * *

><p>"Roxas, what happened at the doctors?" Xemnas decided to ask after class, a little shocked that Roxas was, in fact, not okay.<p>

"I stopped responding to the treatments, just like before, but this time increasing the dosage isn't going to do anything. I'm going to die, Xemnas, and it's going to happen soon," Roxas felt himself falling apart. The circumstances of his situation were finally hitting him. He wasn't going to make it to see his brother graduated, to get married, or to even see Sora and Riku get together (which was going to happen eventually, everyone knew it).

Xemnas didn't know what to say. None of the Strifes nor his family, the Hikaris, had ever let it sink into them that Roxas' expiration date was sooner than theirs. All of them tried to brusquely shove the topic aside, like it wasn't really happening. They were all worried and treated Roxas like he was sick, but never once had they actually thought about what was going on, and how rapidly his supposed death was coming.

All Xemnas could do to comfort the boy was wrap his arms around him and hope.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Rox? What were you talking to Xemmy about?"<p>

Roxas seemed to think about his answer before telling Axel, "Just about the homework and classwork I missed when I was away."

Axel didn't believe him, but decided not to push the subject, "So, instead of doing all that make-up work, how about after school, we go somewhere? Just you and me."

"Why not? There's nothing to lose." Roxas said it so seriously that it almost frightened Axel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two waited for school to end and when it did, Axel and Roxas were off, "So, Axel, where are we going today?"

"Just the clock-tower, but not before we get some sea-salt ice cream, and this time, I'm making you have some!" Axel exclaimed pulling Roxas to the ice cream parlor and ordering two sea-salts. After the ice cream was ordered, Axel continued pulling Roxas to the clock-tower, and as soon as the two reached it, they sat down.

"Axel, I really shouldn't, especially not now," Roxas tried to persuade Axel to not give him the ice cream.

"It's just ice cream. It's not going to hurt you, Roxy. And if it does, I'll defend you against the evil ice cream monster of doom. I'll protect you. Got it memorized?" Axel shoved the ice cream into Roxas' mouth, quite content that Roxas didn't take it out right away.

"So, why the clock-tower?" Roxas asked, in awe at the sunset taking place before them.

Axel smiled a bit, ignoring Roxas' question, "Bet you don't know why the sun sets red." He waved his hand over the horizon, "You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest."

Roxas laughed quietly and jabbed Axel in the stomach, "Like I asked, know-it-all."

"Hey, Roxy?"

"Hmm."

"Be my boyfriend, will you?" Axel asked in the most casual tone possible.

"Like I said, what have I got to lose?" Roxas smiled.


End file.
